Cathay Pacific Group’s cargo revenue, traffic, volumes decline during H1

In its interim results for 2019, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Group reported that cargo revenue and volumes declined year-over-year during the first half of 2019 for Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon. The company said its cargo declines reflect “weaker global trade brought about in part by U.S.-China trade tensions.”

Cargo revenue for the first half was HK$11.50 billion (US$1.47 billion), down 11.4% from H118. At the same time, cargo traffic declined 6.1% to 5.48 billion freight tonne kilometers, and cargo volumes declined 5.7% to 979,000 tonnes.

To mitigate the negative impact of increasing protectionism between the United States and China, Cathay said it has rationalized its freighter capacity – increasing freighter services to Singapore as of January 2019 – and focused on specialty cargo shipments. In support of its specialty cargo operations, Cathay Pacific became the first airline to receive IATA’s Center for Excellence for Perishable Logistics (CEIV Fresh) certification. Cathay Pacific also expanded its joint business agreement with Lufthansa Cargo in April, connecting Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to 14 European hubs for eastbound flights from Europe to Hong Kong.